advaita-siddhi 14 (MadhusUdana's reply contd.)

[elmec]

Anand Hudli wrote:

> Another point that can be made is this. If Brahman, the pAramArthika
> sattva is the absolute reality, we can have different levels of
> relative reality. The unreality of each level depends on the how many
> layers of superimposition that should be removed in order to get to
> the bottom-most substratum, ie. Brahman. As the superimpositions become
> more numerous and complex, it becomes that much difficult, in general,
> to remove them and get to the one and only reality.

It is a beautiful interpretation !

As I read it I was reminded of what Sri Vinoba Bhave says in  his lecture on
Gita which he makes during one of the jail terms during our freedom struggle
addressing his fellow country men.

" One has to foster the body and cherish it so that one can make use of it to
carry out  'swadharma'. But a restricted and shallow identification of oneself
with the body sets the limits of my expansion. Myself and those related to me
through this body set the limit. We start building walls around us. wherever we
turn we see walls, walls and nothing but walls. Within these walls the germs of
base thoughts multiply and the health of our spirit is destroyed " .

> This is also perhaps
> why material possessions become a hindrance to Self-Realization.

By reducing ones possessions one may not reduce ones possessiveness ! - quote
Vinoba bhave

> Take
> for instance a poor man. He has very little possessions that he identifies
> as his. That means he makes relatively fewer super-impositions on the Self.
> He does not have a house that he can call his own. He does not have a
> car that he can call his own. He does not have bank balance that he can
> call his own. And so on. He does not falsely identify himself with
> possessions because he has none! A rich man, on the other hand, has a
> significantly harder task to remove his complex superimpositions on the
> Self. He has vast material possessions that he falsely identifies with
> the Self. He thinks he owns a big house, many cars, servants, bank
> accounts, and so on. He is in a deeper state of illusion, deeper in mAyA,
> than the poor man.

I feel that a very poor person may always be dreaming of becoming rich one day
, while a very rich person may always be having nightmares of losing all his
riches one day. So a person who is a go-between these two states, say, a person
from middle class who would have tasted what poverty is at some point of time
in his life and who has also enjoyed some luxuries at other times of his life
would be in a better position to  understand the ephemeral nature of
materialistic life. He has a good chance of gaining viveka and vairaagya, I
feel. But whatever we may say here, it is the 'poorva janma samskaara' which
has the last
laugh !

Regards,
Hari Om,
Latha Vidyaranya
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